Shadowgaze: The Last Warrior
Praise Leave your praise here please! :) Prologue Crushclaw didn't know if the rain would ever stop, but he guessed he didn't want it to. It was keeping him safe, making it so his brother couldn't send him away, so he couldn't banish Crushclaw. Well, not without losing the trust of his Clan. Sparkstar, or as he called him Spark, stood behind, and to the left of him, keeping guard. He doesn't trust me. It hit Crushclaw then, and it hurt. His own brother, the one he had almost died protecting, now hated him. He had saved him, put his life on the line, and now Spark was banishing him. Mother had always told them that family was the only important thing, but he guessed Spark didn't remember that, after all, he had been a kit when she was killed. Crushclaw glanced around, spotting his mate and kits. The kits looked scared, and his mate, well... He glanced away. They had to be strong, or they wouldn't last long here. It was his home, their home, but now that Spark was leader, it was a lot more colder of a place. "Crushclaw yo-" Spark started. "You know my name is Crush, Spark." Crushclaw interrupted his brother. He'd probably get mad, but, that wouldn't be new. "I am Spark''star'' to you." He growled. Yep, he was right, "Now then, why did you do it Crushclaw? Why did you kill Pebblepaw?" "You know I didn't kill him." Crushclaw growled, "I loved him like brother, I loved him like I love you." Spark's eyes shone, Mouse-dung! I let him get to me! "Is it hard? Loving those you don't love you back?" "What are you saying?" Crushclaw slid his claws out, digging into the damp mountain soil. After all he had done for his brother, he couldn't believe Spark was saying this. "I don't love you, and as far as I care, you died with Mama." The rain stopped, "I looks like StarClan is calling you." Chapter 1 - Apprentice "Darkcry, you are ready to take on an apprentice. You had received excellent training from Snakefoot, and you have shown yourself to be brave and loyal. You will be the mentor of Shadowpaw, and I expect you to pass on all you know to Shadowpaw." Pinestar mewed. Shadowpaw turned to her new mentor. His name was Darkcry, and he was a tall, muscular, black tom, with bright blue eyes. He was a new warrior, barely over a moon and a half of warrior-hood, but, after helping to defeat MountainClan on one of their constant attacks, he was the talk of the Clans. Shadowpaw supposed that she should have been honored, but she couldn't have given a mouse-tail. She stepped forward, bowing so that her and her mentor's heads were side by side. "I pledge to train you well Shadowpaw, I will teach you to be a brave and loyal member of DawnClan." "And I pledge to learn well from you Darkcry, and to become a brave and loyal member of DawnClan." Shadowpaw mewed, completing her Clan's lengthy apprentice ceremony. Rockpaw and Eaglepaw, her brothers, went scampering over to her. "Shadowpaw, Goldpelt is going to take me out to see the territory!" Eaglepaw meowed, jumpy up and down with excitement. "And Echostone is taking me with them!" Rockpaw added, "Ask Darkcry if you can come with us. They were always annoying, but now it was tenfold. "I don't know..." Shadowpaw trailed off, "Knowing Darkcry, I'll have to go learn to hunt, or go training. MountainClan is going to be attacking us again soon." "Yes." A deep voice meowed behind the trio, "Shadowpaw is right. MountainClan will attack us again very soon. If I were deputy, I'd make your mentors train you, but as I am not.. well, I can't." It was Darkcry. He sure could scare the fur off of a cat. "Please Darkcry!" Eaglepaw and Rockpaw pleaded. "Oh come on Darkcry," Echostone meowed, flicking Darkcry's shoulder with her tail, "It won't kill you to take Shadowpaw around the territory." "Actually, I don-" Shadowpaw was cut off by Darkcry. "No, it won't kill me, because I can fight, but it might kill Shadowpaw." He growled, "You're all just too weak to understand!" He turned around, and started stalking off to the training area, "Come on Shadowpaw!" He called over his shoulder. Great, now he's mad at me. ''She sighed, rolling her eyes. "Thanks guys." She mewed sarcastically, and followed her mentor. Chapter 2 - Training "Try again!" Darkcry yowled. He was pushing Shadowpaw to her limits, and now, spending time with her brothers didn't seem so bad. It had been three moons since Shadowpaw had become an apprentice, three long, training filled moons. She tired to claw him, he wanted Shadowpaw to use my claws, his exact words were "MountainClan isn't going to play nice, they won't hesitate to kill you." The thought of facing a MountainClan apprentice scared her, they were so much bigger and stronger that her Clan was. "Come on Shadowpaw! I know you can do better!" He growled. "I knew your father, he was a better warrior that I was, so I know you can be better that I am, now show me!" Shadowpaw dashed forward, then dodged his paw-swipe, and rushed forward, clawing his flank. "Good job!" He mewed happily, then winced, blood quickly soaking his pelt, "Maybe a little too good." "Are you alright? I'm so sorry!" She ran up to her mentor, inspecting the wound, "We should take you to Mousefur, he'll know what to do." "I'll be fine." He mewed. ''You stupid fur-ball, quit trying to be tough! ''Shadowpaw thought to herself, but was too scared to say out loud. "You did a good job." He glanced around, "Go get yourself some prey, while I try to find some cobwebs and some dock." "Are you sure you don't need any help?" She asked him, "I can wait for some prey, I'm not really hungry anyway." "No," Darkcry meowed, still looking around, "You go on ahead." He flick his tail dismissively. "Alright." She mewed, and headed back to camp. It didn't take very long, no more that few blood-beats. Shadowpaw arrived at the camp, near the fresh-kill pile. She picked up two voles, starving. Shadowpaw didn't like lying to Darkcry, he was actually nice once you got to know him, but he had been acting really strange. As she sat down to eat her huge helping of prey, Eaglepaw and Rockpaw came bouncing up to her. "Hey Shadowpaw!" Rockpaw mewed, "How was training?" "Was Darkcry tough on you again?" Eaglepaw meowed. "It was pretty fun, but, Darkcry was pretty tough, I actually landed a blow on him!" Shadowpaw mewed excitedly, "He's not as bad as he seems," She added. "Ohhh," Eaglepaw mewed, "Darkcry and Shadowpaw jumping through the trees, m-a-t-e-i-n-g" He chanted. "Oh, be quite!" Rockpaw pushed him with one of his paws. He had been able to balance on three paws rather quickly, since a falling branch had mangled one of his paws during a hunting session two moons ago. "You landed a blow on Darkcry?" Echostone asked, padding up, "That ''is impressive!" "Thanks!" Shadowpaw yawned, "I think I'm going to go to my new nest." She got up, and went to her nest, and quickly fell asleep. Chapter 3 - Patrol Shadowpaw watched as sunlight pierced the thick foliage of the forest that DawnClan called home. She, along with her mentor, her brothers, and their own mentors, were out on patrol. With the constant threat of a MountainClan attack, patrols were many these days. Some cats were out two and three times a day. Shadowpaw shook her head. She couldn't let her mind wander like that, it could lead to her missing that one important scent that would save her clan. She put her nose to the ground, taking long, deep sniffs. It wasn't long before she called out, "Darkcry, I think I found something!" Darkcry ran over to his apprentice, and bent down his massive head. He took a long sniff, and scowled. "Fox." His growled frightened Shadowpaw. He had never spoken with so much hate in his meow before, not even when he spoke of MountainClan. "It smells a few days old, so we should keep moving, but everyone needs to be vigilant. If you think you see something, tell the patrol. I'd rather check and find nothing, than not check and there be a fox loose in our territory." "Maybe I should go and warn Pinestar." Rockpaw meowed, "I won't be of much use with this-" He displayed his mangled paw, "-so I could at least go and get some help." "No," Echostone mewed, slightly annoyed, "We've already talked about this Rockpaw." Her fur was bristled. She obviously loved her apprentice like her own kit, "Just because you have an injury, doesn't mean you can be of use in a fight." Rockpaw dipped his head in submission, and the patrol when on. They walked for what seemed like forever. Shadowpaw had never realized how large DawnClan's territory was before, but now she why no cat had time for anything other than training, hunting, and patrolling. ''I guess I should be glad Darkcry didn't show me the territory on my first day, I never would have made it. '' Shadowpaw kept her nose to the ground, not wanting to miss any scent, whether it be MountainClan, or fox. Shadowpaw was so focused on the ground, she didn't notice Darkcry's tail standing straight up, signaling to stop. She crashed right into him. "I'm so sorr-" "Hush." He pointed his tail ahead, and Shadowpaw saw why they were stopped. Four sets of glowing amber eyes watched them from a bush not but several tail lengths away. "I'll take the biggest two, while you two-" He pointed his tail at Goldpelt and Echostone, "- go for one. You apprentices can take the smallest one, but don't try to be a hero." Everyone nodded, and waited. What was only several blood-beats, seamed like seasons to Shadowpaw, as she and her clan-mates waited for the foxes to attack them. When it finally came, the were all ready. Shadowpaw saw Darkcry hack away at one, which fell, dead before it hit the ground. She heard her brother's fighting what she thought was the youngest of the foxes, a small, sly female. She went to join them, when a fifth fox crept out from under the bush. It was headed for Darkcry. Chapter 4 - A Meeting With Icestar Coming later today/tomorrow. Chapter 5 - Magma And Lava Coming soon Chapter 6 - Salmonpaw's Choice Coming soon Chapter 7 - Clanmates Coming soon Chapter 8 - Training Coming soon Chapter 9 - Windfish Saves The Day Coming soon Chapter 10 - A Death Coming soon Chapter 11 - DawnClan Growing Coming soon Chapter 12 - What's In A Name? Coming soon Chapter 13 - Heated Coming soon Chapter 14 - Home Again Coming soon Chapter 15 - Loneliness Coming soon Category:The Last Hope Series